Well, good morning, I wanna invite you to join me in Ecclesiastes chapter two, if you're not already there. As Pastor Jerry said, this is our third week in our study of Ecclesiastes, and today we are moving into chapter two. And as we go through our passage this morning, if you have them in future sermons. In the 2000 NFL draft, The New England Patriots selected Tom Brady with the 199th overall pick in the draft. Coming out of the University of Michigan, Brady was not considered to be a very good prospect for the NFL. In fact, scouts said that he was too small, he was knocked down easily, and he wasn't strong enough to play the position. Well, after a 22-year career in the NFL, Brady retired. And whether you love him or you hate him as an NFL fan, we have to acknowledge that when he retired, he was the greatest to ever play the quarterback position. And his stats prove that. Here are some of the career records that he still holds. Career wins by starting quarterback, 251. Career passing yards, 89,214. Career passing touchdowns, 649. He's still the oldest player to win the league's most valuable player award, which he won at the age of 40. And as someone who's only a few years away from 40, that becomes more impressive every year to me. Career playoff wins by a starting quarterback, 48. Career playoff passing yards, 13,400. Career playoff passing touchdowns, 88. He's appeared in the most Super Bowls, he's been in 10. He's won the most Super Bowl Most Valuable Player awards with five. And he has won the most Super Bowls with seven Super Bowl wins. Tom Brady by himself has more Super Bowl wins than any individual NFL franchise. After a team wins the Super Bowl, they're given a ring to commemorate their victory. It's kind of like their personal trophy. After Brady won his seventh and final Super Bowl ring, he was asked which one was his favorite. And his answer to that question was the next one. For an athlete, this attitude and this drive of never being satisfied, of never having enough accolades, or never having enough wins, is a good attitude to have. It's a good mindset to have. But for followers of Jesus, that attitude and that mindset doesn't really work. Today we are moving into chapter two of Ecclesiastes, and last week as we finished up chapter one, we saw the teacher begin his search for what is good, his search for what satisfies under the sun with wisdom. This week, moving into chapter two, his search is going to continue, but his attention turns to pleasure and to work. And as we've heard Pastor Jerry say in the first two weeks of our series, the author of Ecclesiastes identifies himself as the teacher, but he aligns himself with King Solomon. Our passage this morning, maybe more than any other passage in the book of Ecclesiastes, reminds us of King Solomon. In fact, if we were just to read it, we could definitely say King Solomon wrote this passage. However, There are a couple of things that the teacher says in this passage that distances himself from King Solomon. And that's why a lot of scholars will agree that Solomon did not write the book of Ecclesiastes. And so before we dive in this morning, I wanna show you these two specific things where the teacher distances himself from King Solomon. In Ecclesiastes 2.8, we read, I also amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. But if we were to go back to 1 Kings 10, during the reign of King Solomon, we would read, all of King Solomon's drinking cups were gold, and all the utensils of the house of the forest of Lebanon, pure gold. There was no silver. since it was considered as nothing in Solomon's time. So if Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, he probably would not have mentioned silver and gold together here in chapter two. We're also gonna see in the passage this morning in verse three and in verse nine, the teacher says as he's doing the test that we're gonna look at, that his wisdom stayed with him. but we know that at the end of Solomon's life, he abandoned wisdom. Now, I wanna be completely transparent with you this morning. My thinking on who the author of the book of Ecclesiastes is has changed in like the last week. In fact, someone asked me after church last week, Corey, who would you say wrote the book of Ecclesiastes? And I said, personally, I'd probably say King Solomon. That's what I've been taught my entire life. But then I began to really study and really dive into this passage. And so my own thinking has changed. Wherever your thinking is on the authorship of the book of Ecclesiastes, what I can tell you today is if you were to ask me after the service who wrote this book, I would say the teacher or the preacher. But here's what I know. The book of Ecclesiastes is the inspired, living, breathing word of God. The Holy Spirit wrote through the teacher to us. So whoever the human author of this book is, or was. God's word is alive and active and it's profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and training and righteousness. So there is something for us in the book of Ecclesiastes. Last week we saw that wisdom is useful for understanding the world, but ultimately there's no profit in it. And as the teacher's search for satisfaction turns to what is good or turns to pleasure this morning, what we're going to see is that nothing under, I wanna invite you to stand with me this morning as we read our passage, starting in verse one of Ecclesiastes chapter two, and we will read through verse 11. It reads, I said to myself, go ahead, I will test you with pleasure. Enjoy what is good. but it turned out to be futile. I said about laughter, it is madness, and about pleasure, what does this accomplish? I explored with my mind the pool of wine on my body, my mind still guiding me with wisdom, and how to grasp folly until I could see what is good for people to do under heaven during the days of their lives. I increased my achievements. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. I made gardens and parks for myself and planted every kind of fruit tree in them. I constructed reservoirs for myself from which to irrigate a grove of flourishing trees. I acquired male and female servants and had slaves who were born in my house. I also owned livestock, large herds and flocks, more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. I also amassed silver and gold for myself and the treasure of kings and provinces. I gathered male and female singers for myself and many concubines, the delights of men. So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also remained with me. All that my eyes desired, I did not deny them. I did not refuse myself any pleasure. For I took pleasure in all my struggles. This was my reward for all my struggles. When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile in a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun. The word of God for the people of God. You may be seated. So the teacher's first stop on his search for satisfaction was wisdom. And after that failed, he turned to pleasure. He decided to test himself with pleasure to see what is good for people to do in their lives. To see if pleasure can satisfy our lives. Dr. Danny Akin says that the teacher's attitude in this passage reminds him of the man in the Tim McGraw song who got a bad diagnosis about his health. And I'm not gonna sing the song this morning, But if you're familiar with it, you know once this man got this bad diagnosis, he went skydiving and mountain climbing and riding a bull. In a few weeks, when we get to chapter three, we're gonna see the teacher tell us that there is a time for laughter, that there is a season for laughter. This past weekend, Friday and Saturday, our staff and our elders went away on our yearly elder and staff retreat. And on Friday night after dinner, we sat down to play a game together. We played the game called The Bible is Funny. If you've never played The Bible is Funny, it's similar to Apples to Apples if you've played Apples to Apples. But the way it works is everyone gets seven cards with random Bible verses. And then we go around the table, and when it's your turn, you pick up a prompt card. And the prompt card may say things like, what Chick-fil-A workers would say if they no longer said my pleasure. Or something like, my love life in high school. And you then put down a Bible verse that corresponds to that prompt. And the game is not meant to be serious, it's meant to be funny, it's meant to be humorous. And one of our elders, who doesn't normally play games, played with us. And the highlight of the game for me, even though I won the game, was laughing as this particular elder tried to read the Bible verses when it was his turn. Nathan was so hysterical in his laughter that most of the time Bruce had to read the Bible verses for him. I've never seen Nathan laugh the way he laughed Friday night. He was laughing so much that we were laughing along with him at his laughter. Laughter brings us joy. It brings enjoyment into our lives. But laughter cannot satisfy our souls. Alcohol cannot satisfy our souls. Now, we know that Scripture doesn't prohibit us from drinking alcohol. Scripture is clear that we should not become drunk with wine. Drinking alcohol is a Christian liberty. You can enjoy that as long as you are not being a stumbling block to others, as long as you are not becoming intoxicated. In fact, Proverbs 23 warns us of the dangers of drunkenness. Proverbs 23, starting in verse 19 says, listen, my son, and be wise. Keep your mind on the right course. Don't associate with those who drink too much wine or with those who gorge themselves on meat. For the drunkard who has red eyes, those who linger over wine, those who go looking for mixed wine, Don't gaze at wine because it is red, because it gleams in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end, it bites like a snake and stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things and you will say absurd things. You'll be like someone sleeping out at sea or lying down on the top of a ship's mast. They struck me, but I feel no pain. They beat me, but I didn't know it. When will I wake up? I'll look for another drink. So while in the right context, we have the liberty to enjoy alcohol, Scripture is clear. To become drunk is a sin. To be a stumbling block for someone else because you want to enjoy your Christian liberty is a sin. Neither of these things can satisfy our souls. There's no amount of laughter that can satisfy your soul. There is no amount of alcohol that can satisfy your soul. They will only leave you wanting more. And even though in verse three the teacher says that his wisdom was with him through this process, I think we can say that this wisdom that was with him is not the wisdom from the Lord. It's some kind of earthly or human wisdom. Proverbs tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Wisdom that comes from the Lord is wisdom that follows the scriptures and lives according to the word of God and lives according to how God would have us live. But the teacher here, he's not telling us how to live our lives when he's describing his test and pleasure. He's not telling us that we should test ourselves with laughter or with alcohol the way that he did. He's looking back on his life. He's reflecting back on what he's already done. And he's telling us what he has learned from this test in pleasure. And if we look back at verse one, before he even describes the test to us, before he even says this is what I did to test myself, he says that pleasure is futile. Going back to verse one. I said to myself, go ahead, I will test you with pleasure. Enjoy what is good, but it turned out to be futile. I said about laughter, it is madness, and about pleasure, what does this accomplish? I explored with my mind the pull of wine on my body, my mind still guiding me with wisdom, and how to grasp folly. until I could see what is good for people to do under heaven during the few days of their lives. Ultimately, we can say that the teacher's test in pleasure shows us satisfaction does not come from pleasure. True lasting satisfaction in our lives and in our souls does not come from pleasure. Focusing on pleasure is not man's purpose under the sun. It is not what we were designed for. Proverbs 21, 17 says, the one who loves pleasure will become poor. Whoever loves wine and oil will not get rich. So since wisdom and pleasure could not satisfy the teacher, he now turns his attention to work, to achievements, and to possessions. He spends all his energy and his wealth building things, building houses, and vineyards, and gardens, and parks, and he fills them with trees, and he makes ways to irrigate those trees. He acquires servants and has slaves born in his house. He gets large herds and flocks. It's almost as if the teacher is trying to recreate the Garden of Eden here in Ecclesiastes chapter two. he amasses riches for himself. He gets concubines and choirs and he becomes greater than all who were before him in Jerusalem. And we could look at this list of achievements and this list of things that he has done and we could point to some of them and say that they are beneficial for other people. We could say things like the fruit trees would feed people or maybe they provided jobs or wealth for people. But as we read verses four through nine, I want you to notice how many times we read the phrase for myself in these five verses. And they're gonna be highlighted for you on the screen. I increased my achievements. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. I made gardens and parks for myself and planted every kind of fruit tree in them. I constructed reservoirs for myself from which to irrigate a grove of flourishing trees. I acquired male and female servants and have slaves who were born in my house. I also own livestock, large herds and flocks, more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. I also amassed silver and gold for myself and the treasure of kings and provinces. I gathered male and female singers for myself and many concubines, the delights of men. So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also remained with me. So the teacher built and amassed all these things for himself. All of this work, all of the possessions that he gathered together were for himself. He had more wealth than we could probably imagine. And what did he get from all of it? What was the teacher's reward for all his struggle, for all of his work? His reward was simply the pleasure he received from doing the work. Verse 10 says, All that my eyes desired, I did not deny them. I did not refuse myself any pleasure, for I took pleasure in all my struggles. This was my reward for all of my struggles. In the NIV, we read the word toils there rather than struggles. His reward for all of this work was the pleasure he got out of doing the work. There was no lasting pleasure. His test in work and achievements shows us satisfaction and purpose do not come from work and possessions. Satisfy and purpose don't come from work and possessions. We were made to work. all the way back to the garden. We were designed to work, and it's good to enjoy the work that you do, but your work doesn't define you. Your work is not meant to satisfy your souls. I love what I do. I love my job. I enjoy my job. I can't imagine doing anything else. I love serving God's church. I love that I get to be Pastor Corey, but that's a little formal for me. That's why you hear the students call me PC. Pastor is probably more for someone a little more seasoned, someone with a little more gray hair, maybe in their mid to late 60s. Then you could say pastor, whoever their name happens to be. Not that I have anyone specific in mind. I love what I do. I love my job. But when I go home, I'm not PC. When I go home, I'm not a pastor. I'm a husband and I'm a father. And I don't ever want my wife or my daughter to see me as a pastor before Kayla's husband, before Brooklyn's father. Because you see, one day, Lord willing, down the road, when I have the gray hair and it's okay to call me Pastor Cory, I'm gonna retire from being a pastor. and I'm gonna let go, but don't let your work be what you look to for satisfaction. Don't let your job, the thing you do to buy the things that you have, be what you look to to define yourself. Don't look to the things that you possess, the wealth that you gain from your job, don't look to those things to satisfy you. Because the teacher shows us clearly in Ecclesiastes chapter two, they cannot satisfy our souls. No matter how much you work, no matter how much you get, If you look to that for satisfaction, you will only want more. So what's the result of these tests? What did the teacher gain from all of his pleasures, from all of his achievements, and from all of his possessions? In a word, nothing. Ecclesiastes 2, 11 reads, for when I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile in a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained from under the sun. Even though he experienced momentary satisfaction from the pleasures that he enjoyed, Even though he got joy out of his work and out of his possessions, when compared to eternity, the teacher realized there is no gain. It's all chasing after the wind. When you compare pleasure and work and the possessions and the things that we have with eternity, they cannot compare. there is no gain because all the pleasure in the world, all the work in the world, all the possessions and the achievement in the world cannot bring salvation to you. And that's how this passage points to Jesus. If we're not meant just to work and gather things and then die, there must be more to our life. If we can't find satisfaction under the sun, if we can't find lasting satisfaction in creation, then the only place that we can find satisfaction is with the one who exists outside of creation. If nothing under the sun can satisfy our souls, then the only one who can satisfy us is the one who created all things. The one who was and who is and who is to come. The alpha and the omega. The only one that can satisfy our souls is our creator, our heavenly father. Satisfaction only comes through a relationship with Jesus. Because nothing under the sun will satisfy you, no matter where you look. If you look to something that has been created to bring lasting satisfaction into your life, it will only leave you empty and wanting more. Because the only one who can satisfy that longing in our souls is Jesus. Ian Proven says, the good life is the life centered on God and not on the striving self. The good life is the life centered on God and not on the striving self. A life centered on God begins with repentance. Repentance is a big word that means turning away from your sin and turning to follow Jesus. A life centered on God begins with realizing that you are a sinner. We are all sinners in need of a savior and we cannot save ourselves. But God sent his son to die in our place, to pay the price for our sins. and he rose him from the grave on the third day, giving us victory over sin and death through Christ. This good life centered on God begins with realizing that only a relationship with Jesus can bring you forgiveness and salvation. And it begins when you call out to the Lord. Romans 10 tells us if we confess with our mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we'll be saved. And a few verses later in Romans 10, 13, it says, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Repentance, the good life centered on God begins with repentance. It begins with crying out to Jesus and confessing that you are a sinner in need of a savior and surrendering your life to follow Jesus. And if you've never done that, you can this morning. You can surrender your, talk more about that this morning after the service. I or Pastor Jerry or any one of our elders or leaders would love to have a conversation with you about what that looks like and what that means. So, if everything's futile, how should we live? How should we spend our lives? How should we respond to what we've seen this morning in Ecclesiastes chapter two? I wanna give us two application suggestions to answer this question. Here's the first one. Enjoy God, the giver of good gifts, more than the gifts themselves. Enjoy God more than the gifts that he gives. Pleasure, work, possessions, all of these things are gifts from God, and we should enjoy them in the right context. But so often we get it backwards, and we focus on the gifts more than the giver, and we want more of the gifts, and we look to the gifts to satisfy us, and we want more and more and more, but they cannot satisfy us. We must learn to enjoy the giver more than the gifts. Don't look to the things that God gives you to satisfy you. Don't find your identity in the things that God gives you. Look to God himself for satisfaction. Look to God himself for your identity. Enjoy his gifts. but we must enjoy Him more because true satisfaction only comes from Him. And then the second suggestion, the second way to apply this this morning, invest in the only things that go into eternity, the souls of man and the Word of God. Invest in the only two things that go into eternity, the souls of people and the word of God. Everything else is going to perish. All of your possessions, everything we buy with the wealth that we work to accumulate, it will all perish one day. The only things that are going into eternity are the souls of people and the Word of God. So invest in them. Investing in souls begins with sharing the gospel with your family and your friends and your neighbors and your co-workers. It begins with telling them who Jesus is, that he is the only son of God. He lived a perfect, sinless life. He died in our place to pay the price for our sins. He rose from the grave on the third day so that we can have life, so that we can have salvation and forgiveness of our sins. Investing in the souls of men begins with sharing the gospel. And it continues with making disciples and teaching younger believers what it means to follow Jesus. If you would identify yourself as a more mature believer, someone who's been walking with the Lord for a long period of time, I wanna encourage you this morning to find someone younger than you and invest in them. Teach them what it means to follow Jesus. If there is breath in your lungs and you are a follower of Jesus, you have something to teach someone who is earlier in their journey than you are. So I wanna challenge you and encourage you. Find someone and invest in them. Our church, praise God, has no shortage of children and teenagers who need to be shown how to follow Jesus. And yes, we have staff that do that. My friends, there were 35 teenagers at youth last week. It was awesome. It's the most teenagers we've had on a Sunday night since I've been here. I love every single one of our students. I cannot spend the same amount of time with all 35 of them teaching them how to follow Jesus. If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a church body to make disciples. And if you are younger in your faith, if you have not been walking with Jesus as long, here's my challenge for you this morning. Look around and identify older, more mature believers whose walk with the Lord that you respect and go ask them to teach you how to walk with Jesus. Ask them to read the Bible with you and to teach you how to pray and to teach you how to memorize scripture. We must be about the work of investing in the souls of people. And we must invest in the word of God. We invest in the Word of God by being in the Word regularly, by hiding God's Word in our heart that we might not sin against Him, by living a life submitted to the Word of God. Two weeks ago, Steve Thompson preached an excellent message on the importance of living by the Word of God. If you didn't get, if you weren't here, you haven't got to watch that, I encourage you, go back this week and watch that message. We must live lives of submission to the word of God. I wanna close this morning by reading a paragraph from the book Living Life Backward by David Gibson. This is a book that Gibson wrote on the book of Ecclesiastes. Pastor Jerry and I, I think Pastor Jerry's finished it. I'm working my way through it. A few other harvesters have been reading it or have read it. But I wanna encourage you, if you wanna dive deeper, This is a really great book. I've really enjoyed it, but in his chapter on this passage, I wanna read this to you. He writes, when we accept in a deep way that we are going to die, that reality can stop us expecting too much from all the good things. Death reorients us to our limitations as creatures. and helps us to see God's good gifts right in front of us all the time, each and every day of our lives. Instead of using these gifts as means to a greater end of securing ultimate gain in the world, we take the time to live inside the gifts themselves and see the hand of God in them. Ordinarily, we eat and drink simply as fuel to enable us to keep going with our work. Ordinarily, we work not just to earn a living, but to find satisfaction and purpose, and very likely to make a reputation for ourselves and to achieve success. What if the pleasure of food is a daily joy that we ungratefully overlook? What if our work was never intended to make us successful, but simply to make us faithful and generous? What if it is death that shows us that this is how we are meant to live?